for small business and 375,000 fewer mental health patients being treated. 10,000 teachers lost, leon panetta, the outgoing defense secretary, has already said that the unacceptable cuts to the nation's defense would result so what we've got to see is whether republicans believe that or whether they believe it's a chicken little kind of argument and some democrats privately on the hill think that the sequester cuts might not be all that bad because they cut some of the defense programs that democrats have wanted to for some time. thee weeks to see how this is going to come out. >> amazing that we're up against more deadline. is the white house using scare tactics here or would the cuts really be that bad? joining me now american action forum president and former chief economist for bush 43's economic council and also with us is caroline heldman, professor of politics at occidental college. doug, you first, as bad as the white house says? >> no, nothing has changed since the president invented the august of 2011 except the politics and now he wants to change the spending cuts into tax increase